Freshers Week

The new academic year is officially here and our campus is suddenly packed with students and life. The beginning of the year 2009-10 was marked with last week’s Freshers’ Week. Although I wasn’t able to attend any of the week’s festivities, I spent my day at the Fresher’s Fair on Friday.

What is the Freshers’ Fair?

Whoever has studied and/or worked for a UK university must be familiar with this term. The Freshers’ Fair is the peak of all celebrations, as student societies and clubs gather in an area set up as an exhibition aiming to introduce themselves to the newcoming students, grab their attention and attract new members. Freshers’ Fairs are an opportunity for first year undergrads and postgrads to meet like-minded people and to join societies that match their interests, while it’s an opportunity for everyone to have some fun and entertain themselves. My personal favourite part in Freshers’ Fairs – I must admit – is the various candy treats which societies offer hoping to attract more people.

What did I do there?

I helped our Entrepreneurs’ Club promote its causes and introduce itself to the newcomers. Albeit being a specialized society, we did very well, as we signed up about 100 members. Also, we did not offer candy, but we did offer money. To be exact, we promoted our entrepreneurship competitions for students which we’ll run throughout the year, which offer cash prizes to the winners. Our introductory catch-phrase “would you like a chance to win £1,000?” seemed to have worked very well, as lots of students stopped by to talk to us and find out more.

Apart from that, I really enjoyed the whole atmosphere and buzz and I’m already looking forward to next year’s Freshers’ Fair.

I work for Roehampton University in South West London as the Research and Business Engagement Officer. The Research and Business Development Office, which forms my department, was created recently, and therefore I am the first holder of the above mouthful-of-a-role. This is very exciting, as I get a lot of freedom in forming tasks and developing areas of responsibility for the post. At the same time, it is also very challenging, as how things will be organized and work in practice remains to be seen.
Together with the rest of the team, I contribute to various aspects of the so-called “third stream income generation activity” on behalf of the University. Third stream income is a relatively new term, meaning revenue that comes from outside the traditional sources of government funding and tuition fees. Some sources of third stream income can be Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, IP Commercialization, business start-ups and spin-offs, Development and Innovation Grants, executive courses, and partnerships with the private and public sectors. I am also heavily involved in the team’s efforts to encourage entrepreneurial thinking and work across campus by coordinating internal and inter-collegiate events and workshops for both students and academics. Finally, part of my work is devoted to fostering strong links with the local community, mainly through relationship-building events.